I smoked a pack a day for ten years. So very glad that I finally quit. That was years ago.

That said, this report is bullshiat. There is no better drug then nicotine. You want to feel relaxed? It will help you. You want to feel amped? It will help you. Amazing drug. People who deny it's power are liars.

The researchers are less sure why stress levels rose in those who failed to quit. But it may be that their failure - and thoughts of the damage their habit was doing to their health - made them worry more.This increase in stress levels was particularly high in those with depression and other psychiatric problems and the researchers said doctors should be aware of this.

If you have a lot of people in your study with psychiatric problems, then OF COURSE they're going to have high stress levels--before, during and after attempting to quit--and OF COURSE it's going to be unclear what caused the change. And it seems pretty clear that if one of the reasons they were trying to quit is fear for their health, then knowing they failed is going to make things worse.

Nicotine is just about the most lethal poison known to our species. Short-term-high-dose? Instant death. Long-term-low-dose? Tobacco addiction, cancer, and death. Bonus: your kids are more likely to be non-X-Men mutant failures.

Whole family smokes, other than me, and I've seen many of them go for a comfort smoke while stressed. Even if nicotine did nothing to alleviate that stress I'd have to imagine that there is a fairly strong placebo element to the whole issue.

Even if said stress relief was only due to the sated need for smoking.

Banacek:I smoked a pack a day for ten years. So very glad that I finally quit. That was years ago.

That said, this report is bullshiat. There is no better drug then nicotine. You want to feel relaxed? It will help you. You want to feel amped? It will help you. Amazing drug. People who deny it's power are liars.

The above^

/16 months quit after more years than I care to admit//still want a f*cking cigarette, though

The researchers are less sure why stress levels rose in those who failed to quit. But it may be that their failure - and thoughts of the damage their habit was doing to their health - made them worry more.This increase in stress levels was particularly high in those with depression and other psychiatric problems and the researchers said doctors should be aware of this.

If you have a lot of people in your study with psychiatric problems, then OF COURSE they're going to have high stress levels--before, during and after attempting to quit--and OF COURSE it's going to be unclear what caused the change. And it seems pretty clear that if one of the reasons they were trying to quit is fear for their health, then knowing they failed is going to make things worse.

These guys are pretty bad researchers.

I've always heard and I believe smoking is a form of self medication for people with depression and other issues, take that away and change nothing in their meds, yeah their gonna fail and feel what they were self medicating for.

Nicotine is just about the most lethal poison known to our species. Short-term-high-dose? Instant death. Long-term-low-dose? Tobacco addiction, cancer, and death. Bonus: your kids are more likely to be non-X-Men mutant failures.

Quitting is almost *all* psychological. That's the challenge; not the nicotine addiction that clears after a few (murderous) days.

I quit after 8 years, and it was downright easy. And I'm no paragon of self-discipline and willpower. The trick is simple:

While your resolve and self-discipline are at their strongest, and you've made that hard decision, deliberately expose yourself to *everything* that makes you reach for a cigarette. Get drunk, fark like a rabbit, visit your mother-in-law, every stressor or trigger you can think of. That temporary, but all-important surge of willpower will get you through it.

And when you're done? Nothing short of WW3 will push you to start again.

codemastaflex:I always thought the relaxing bit about smoking was the deep breathing associated with the action of smoking, not the actual nicotine itself.

I think you're pretty much right. I've often thought this my longest period of time without smoking as an adult I did lots of yoga and yea I can see it. Although there are some true medicinal purposes of tobacco, one it it can take the toxin out of a bee sting and make it feel better almost instantly, although that's applied topically to the sting as a paste.

I've been using an e-cig for just over a year now. Not going to hawk a particular brand but mine is great. A good place for info is e-cigarette forum dot com - it's not sponsored by any company and it is all user submitted info and reviews.

aagrajag:Quitting is almost *all* psychological. That's the challenge; not the nicotine addiction that clears after a few (murderous) days.

I quit after 8 years, and it was downright easy. And I'm no paragon of self-discipline and willpower. The trick is simple:

While your resolve and self-discipline are at their strongest, and you've made that hard decision, deliberately expose yourself to *everything* that makes you reach for a cigarette. Get drunk, fark like a rabbit, visit your mother-in-law, every stressor or trigger you can think of. That temporary, but all-important surge of willpower will get you through it.

And when you're done? Nothing short of WW3 will push you to start again.

Quantum Apostrophe:Fano: Won't quitting make you live longer? How can that be? The Fark wisdom is that we don't live longer than 3000 years ago, and therefore can't live longer./I think we hit peak retard that day

Nice to see your stupidity level is still in the kilopalin range. You know you are full of shiat and you know why. It's been explained to you numerous times.

aagrajag:Quitting is almost *all* psychological. That's the challenge; not the nicotine addiction that clears after a few (murderous) days.

I quit after 8 years, and it was downright easy. And I'm no paragon of self-discipline and willpower. The trick is simple:

While your resolve and self-discipline are at their strongest, and you've made that hard decision, deliberately expose yourself to *everything* that makes you reach for a cigarette. Get drunk, fark like a rabbit, visit your mother-in-law, every stressor or trigger you can think of. That temporary, but all-important surge of willpower will get you through it.

And when you're done? Nothing short of WW3 will push you to start again.

Also, tasting food is nice.

I'm not going to argue with you about that assertion, but where do you get that spike of resolve and self-discipline from?

I've also never understood the sentiment of "tasting food" again that I've heard from so many people. Personally, I tasted food as well when I smoked a pack+ per day as I do now. The only real difference is more sensitivity to capsacin and a bit less to horseradish (and those are related to dietary choices from the last several months.)

steerforth:aagrajag: Quitting is almost *all* psychological. That's the challenge; not the nicotine addiction that clears after a few (murderous) days.

I quit after 8 years, and it was downright easy. And I'm no paragon of self-discipline and willpower. The trick is simple:

While your resolve and self-discipline are at their strongest, and you've made that hard decision, deliberately expose yourself to *everything* that makes you reach for a cigarette. Get drunk, fark like a rabbit, visit your mother-in-law, every stressor or trigger you can think of. That temporary, but all-important surge of willpower will get you through it.

And when you're done? Nothing short of WW3 will push you to start again.

Seriously though, everyone's willpower wanes with time, so confronting your triggers while at your strongest just makes sense. It's also the very opposite of what most people do, so I imagine not too many have tried it. Most people avoid stress when they're quitting. You know, they pick a long weekend, board themselves up with a bunch of shiatty movies, and pointedly avoid stress of any sort.

Yes, this is simply my experience. But when I say I ain't Mr. Self Discipline, I mean it. I must have done something right.

Quantum Apostrophe:Fano: Won't quitting make you live longer? How can that be? The Fark wisdom is that we don't live longer than 3000 years ago, and therefore can't live longer./I think we hit peak retard that day

MaudlinMutantMollusk:Banacek: I smoked a pack a day for ten years. So very glad that I finally quit. That was years ago.

That said, this report is bullshiat. There is no better drug then nicotine. You want to feel relaxed? It will help you. You want to feel amped? It will help you. Amazing drug. People who deny it's power are liars.

The above^

/16 months quit after more years than I care to admit//still want a f*cking cigarette, though

My 10th anniversary of quitting was back in August, the still wanting one still happens, just less and less often. At this point, maybe once a month or two. (20+yrs pack-a-day)